Staffing – A Function of Management Staffing is a critical organizational function which consists of the process of acquiring, deploying, and retaining a workforce of sufficient quantity and quality to create positive impacts on the effectiveness of the organization. It is one of the significant functions of the management. In an organization, it is the people which carry out the various jobs which are needed for its functioning. They are the most important resource of the organization. They supply the talent, skills, knowledge, and experience to achieve the organizational goals and objectives. In fact the performance of the organization largely depends on the quality of its people. Hence the staffing function of the management is an important function and it involves in the building of the organizational workforce. In staffing, the management is faced with the challenge of not only finding the right person for each job but also to match the personnel with the jobs identified and to provide for their long-range growth and welfare as members of the organization. Staffing is that part of the process of management which is concerned with acquiring, developing, employing, appraising, remunerating and retaining people so that right type of people are available at the right positions and at the right time in the organization. In the simplest terms, staffing in management is ‘putting people to jobs’. Staffing apparently cannot be done once and for all, since people are frequently leaving, getting fired, and retiring. Often too, the transformations in the organization generate new positions, and these must be filled. In fact, the process of staffing is also the never-ending process in the organization. The first step in the process of staffing is to understand the job requirements. It is concerned with determining two aspects namely (i) the number, and (ii) the type of personnel required. This can be done by preparing a human resource plan in the organization. Four building blocks for the staffing function the organization are (i) the division of work, (ii) the departmentalization, (iii) the hierarchy, and (iv) the coordination. Definition of staffing Staffing is defined as, “filling and keeping filled, positions in the organizational structure. This is done by identifying work-force requirements, inventorying the people available, recruiting, selecting, placing, promoting, appraising, planning the careers, compensating, training, developing existing staff or new recruits, so that they can accomplish their tasks effectively and efficiently.” The definitions of the staffing function as given by the different management experts are given below. “The managerial function of staffing involves manuring the organizational structure through proper and effective selection, appraisal and development of personnel to fill the roles designed into the structure.” – Koontz and O’ Donnell “Staffing relates to the recruitment, selection, development, training, compensation of subordinate managers.” – Theo Haimann “Staffing is the function by which managers build an organization through the recruitment, selection, and development of individuals as capable employees.” – McFarland Nature of the staffing function The following points describe the nature of the staffing function.
Importance of staffing The staffing function is a very important function of the management due to the following reasons.
Process of staffing function The process of the staffing function involves human resource planning i.e. estimating the size and nature of the personnel required for the recruitment and selection of the best candidates to train, to induct, to reward and to have regular and effective communication with them. The process of staffing consists of the following steps (Fig 1).
Fig 1 Steps in the process of staffing function Benefits of staffing The benefits of an effective staffing function are as follows.
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